Ultimate Dinosaur Collection

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All Rise...

Judge Mina Rhodes finds the image of Nigel Marven in his boxers, caressing a mononykus, to be strangely erotic.

The Charge

Four award-winning, massively popular Walking with… programs now
in one monster set!

Opening Statement

Stupid asteroids. Our beloved little planet works up hundreds of millions of
years of evolution, creating bizarre, beautiful organisms, and then some damn
space rock decides to bitch slap the globe, effectively wiping most of them out.
Thankfully, the process of evolution itself continued on, and a strange and
fascinating new race emerged: the British. They birthed the English language, at
one time dominated most of the world, and along the way consumed massive amounts
of tea, and, starting with a little six-part series in 1999, began to dominate
the field of nature documentaries. Among the most notable of their recent big
successes are The Blue Planet and Planet Earth, as well as a
myriad other BBC-produced, spectacle-rich slices of edutainment, which The
Discovery Channel dumps into a time slot a year after they air in the U.K.,
often needlessly retitled with an extra word or two. That aforementioned
six-part series which arguably started it all, Walking with Dinosaurs,
spawned a legion of follow-up specials and series about prehistoric life, all of
which have found their way to DVD.

Facts of the Case

Dubbed the Ultimate Dinosaur Collection, this new three-disc set from
BBC Video collects all the dinosaur-related entries in the Walking
with… series: Walking with Monsters (Disc 1); the original,
groundbreaking Walking with Dinosaurs (Disc 2); its accompanying special
Allosaurus: A Walking with Dinosaurs Special; and Chased by
Dinosaurs, which is actually two Walking with Dinosaurs specials,
The Giant Claw and Land of Giants, as well as a three-part
miniseries called Sea Monsters: A Walking with Dinosaurs Trilogy, all
lumped together on Disc 3.

I warned you about that whole Discovery Channel retitling thing, didn't I?
Here is a more manageable summation of the discs' contents:

Disc One: Walking with Monsters "Episode One":
The first installment in this three-part series focuses on life's origin in the
sea. After being shown a recreation of the giant impact hypothesis, the action
jumps to the Cambrian Explosion, and the audience is introduced to the bizarre
invertebrates that dominated the oceans at that time (including giant, and I do
mean giant, sea scorpions), as well as the primitive fish who would
eventually evolve the basic body plan for all vertebrates. Said vertebrates make
their entrance into the series as hynerpeton, a salamander-like tetrapod, and
hyneria, a giant (and I do mean giant) lobe-finned fish that, much like
all big scary monsters, attacks would-be lovers (or in this case, mating
hynerpeton).

"Episode Two": Giant bugs. Lots of them. Due to the higher oxygen
content in the atmosphere of the Carboniferous period, arthropods could grow to
bigger sizes than possible in this day and age. And so the audience is
introduced to giant spiders, giant centipedes, and giant dragonflies, all of
whom set their compound sights on a teeny little reptile called petrolacosaurus.
Millions of years later, in the Permian period, a female dimetrodon gets
preggers. Drama ensues.

"Episode Three": It is the late Permian, and the land is mostly an
arid desert. A large female gorgonopsid menaces smaller members of her species,
hunts scutosaurs, and gets made a fool of by pesky, burrowing, prairie dog-like
reptiles called diictodon. Later, in the Triassic, a herd of cow-like
lystrosaurus migrate in search of leafy greens, and are constantly set upon by
vicious predators. Meanwhile, a little green lizard-like reptile called
euparkaria hunts flies, using its unique hip structure to chase them over short
distances on two legs. This little adaptation will, as the series shows, lead to
the evolution of the first dinosaurs. In effect, this means that there were no
dinosaurs in any of the three episodes (aside from a throwaway shot at the end),
therefore making this series' inclusion in a set called the Ultimate Dinosaur
Collection a bit dubious, but I digress…

"Trilogy of Life: The Making of Walking with Dinosaurs, Beasts, and
Monsters" A 30-minute "making of" that explores the production
and cultural impact of the Walking with… trilogy.

Disc Two: Walking with Dinosaurs "New Blood":
It's the late Triassic, and the first dinosaurs have appeared, here represented
by the small predator coelophysis. As the coelophysis struggle to find food in
the arid climate, a pair of cynodonts raise their young in a burrow, and try to
protect them from the dinosaurs, as well as larger predators like the
six-meter-long postosuchus.

"Time of the Titans": The second episode of the series follows the
life of a group of infant diplodocus, from when they hatch from their eggs to
their eventual maturation, and, in some cases, early death.

"Cruel Sea": The oceans of the late Jurassic swim with all kinds
of strange reptiles, from the fish-like ophthalmosaurus to the gigantic, toothy
predator liopleurodon. Meanwhile on land, eustreptospondylus scavenges for food,
eventually stumbling upon a bountiful feast—a gigantic, toothy, predatory
one.

"Giant of the Skies": A huge male pterosaur, ornithocheirus, flies
by instinct to his ritual mating grounds to breed. Along his journey, he
encounters a herd of iguanadon, who are being hunted by a pack of
utahraptor.

"Spirits of the Ice Forest": Near the Arctic circle, a group of
leaellynasaura struggle to survive in the chilly climate, along with other polar
residents like koolasuchus, a giant amphibian, and muttaburrasaurus, a large
herbivorous summer visitor. All are hunted by another summer visitor:
allosaurus.

"Death of a Dynasty": The requisite T. rex episode. A female
Tyrannosaurus rex struggles to raise her chicks in an increasingly unstable and
hostile environment, and unbeknownst to her or any of the other inhabitants of
Planet Earth, something is approaching from the depths of space that will
"spell their doom."

Disc Three: Chased by Dinosaurs and Allosaurus
"Land of Giants": Zoologist Nigel Marven travels back in time to
Argentina, in the Cretaceous period, to chase around giant dinosaurs such as
argentinasaurus, a titanic herbivore, and giganotosaurus, an aptly named
predator.

"The Giant Claw": Nigel Marven travels back in time to Mongolia to
"solve" the "mystery" of therizinosaurus, a large dinosaur
with huge claws on its forelimbs. Along the way, he has run-ins with a curiously
unfeathered pack of velociraptor, a large relative of T. rex called tarbosaurus,
and even catches his first dinosaur, a mononykus.

"Sea Monsters": Nigel Marven yet again travels back in
time, but this time he visits the "seven most dangerous seas" in
history. Expect lots of giant toothy prehistoric fish.

"Allosaurus: A Walking with Dinosaurs Special" This extra episode
of Walking with Dinosaurs recreates the life of Big Al, a fossilized
allosaurus, as he hatches out of his egg, hunts small insects, grows up to hunt
bigger game, and in one of the most spectacular scenes in the entire Walking
with… saga, attacks a herd of diplodocus using a bit of teamwork,
before meeting his untimely end.

The Evidence

When the original Walking with Dinosaurs first aired stateside in
2000, I was a wee little eleven-year-old thing. As all children did, and still
do, I loved dinosaurs with an obsessive passion, so missing the program was
not an option. I remember being transfixed to the television screen,
amazed by what I saw. I re-watched the series so many times over the subsequent
few weeks, on a recorded VHS tape, that entire passages of Ben Bartlett's
fantastic musical score are forever burned into my memory. Alas, as I grew up, I
outgrew my fascination, and hadn't revisited the series until now. Does it still
hold up? We'll get to that a bit later.

The Ultimate Dinosaur Collection starts with Walking with
Monsters, which aired six years after Walking with Dinosaurs.
Monsters covers a lot of ground in 90 minutes, rushing through time
periods and extinct animals at a swift pace. The last part of the Walking
with… trilogy proper, it has only three episodes, whereas
Dinosaurs and Beasts each boasted six. Such time constraints
restrict the series to a more limited view of its subject, reducing the overall
impact of Monsters, especially in comparison to its more celebrated
predecessors. On the plus side, Monsters features truly impressive CGI,
some of the best ever produced for television. While the creatures presented
throughout the series are rather uninteresting in comparison to what is found in
the others, all of them are rendered with great detail and are, at times, even
convincing—as far as CGI animals go, anyway. The technical wizardry is
undercut, unfortunately, by the insubstantial running time and general lack of
real interest. The first episode (its numerous scientific inaccuracies aside) is
actually rather engrossing, due to its alien-looking life forms and giant
scorpions, but it all goes downhill from there, and the series simply feels like
a retread of what has come before it. The included documentary, "Trilogy of
Life," only heightens this fact as it parades clips from Walking with
Dinosaurs and Walking with Beasts, all of which give glimpses of
things far more interesting than Monsters. The documentary itself is well
worth a viewing, as it is very in-depth, despite its short runtime. The creators
of all three series detail the exhaustive work that went into creating the
visual effects, respond to the numerous criticisms of the shows' speculative
nature, and even manage to slip in jokes about gimps, bondage, and KY jelly.

Walking with Dinosaurs, on Disc Two, is the centerpiece of this set.
Unparalleled at the time in its scope, ambition, and cost, Dinosaurs
still holds up today as one of the greatest examples of what television can
achieve. Watching it again with a more mature eye, it's easier to notice flaws
in the special effects and science, but these do not compromise the overall
series, which is still as stately and grandiose as it was in 1999. The
first episode, "New Blood," suffers a bit from Monsters
syndrome, in that the environment and creatures presented aren't exactly
awe-inspiring. The difference here is that Ben Bartlett's score is performed by
a full orchestra, greatly increasing the dramatic impact of the events onscreen,
and there is more assured direction. While Monsters had a light tone,
Dinosaurs is full of power and portent right from the get go. "New
Blood" isn't the best of the six episodes, but it is a brief introduction
before the series—and the animals featured in it—evolves into bigger
and better things.

Case in point: "Time of the Titans," the second episode. Opening
with a dramatic image of adult diplodocus and other towering herbivores grazing
the landscape, the episode doesn't let up throughout the entire 28 minutes. A
clutch of baby diplodocus hatches, in one of the cuter moments in the series. At
birth, they are beset by small, egg-robbing dinosaurs and as they grow they are
descended upon by forest fires, allosaurs, and an angry stegosaurus. The CGI
used to create the dinosaurs was impressive for its time, and still works today,
despite not reaching Hollywood levels of sophistication. The adult diplodocus
are particularly well rendered, with their coiling and swishing tail tips and
convincing, weighty movement.

"Cruel Sea" continues the trend of quality with a great opener
involving a surprise attack by liopleurodon, before submerging us in the
prehistoric sea. The underwater imagery is breathtaking, and the blue gloom
allows for more realistic integration of the computer generated sea life. This
episode also features one of the more brutal bits of violence in the
series—a very bloody attack on a pregnant ophthalmosaurus by liopleurodon.
Such instances of graphic violence were cut out of the American broadcast
version, but are thankfully preserved on DVD.

"Giant of the Skies" is perhaps the best episode; following the
plight of an aging ornithocheirus who is driven by instinct to mate one last
time, its conclusion is surprisingly touching and sad—all the more
impressive, considering it manages to make the viewer feel something for a
combination of CGI and foam rubber. Supporting players in the form of iguanadon
and utahraptor also provide added interest. The first appearance of a herd of
iguanadon on a beach is one of the highlights of the series, approaching a level
of photorealism that is stunning. Bartlett's score for the episode is also the
best of the series; his theme for the ornithocheirus is sweepingly powerful, and
when performed by a solo violin, tragic. Why Bartlett didn't immediately get
picked up for more high-profile scoring assignments after Dinosaurs is
puzzling, as his work on the series is superb.

"Spirits of the Ice Forest" is drenched in atmosphere, provided by
its hazy, low-lighting cinematography and the chilly environment. The
"stars" of the episode, the leaellynasaura, are little, huge-eyed
dinosaurs that utter high-pitched squeaks and chatters. Naturally, this means
"cute moments" aplenty, and when one is brutally killed by an
allosaurus (another moment cut from the U.S. broadcast), it comes as a genuine
shock. The cute factor of the leaellynasaura makes their plight more
fascinating, adding some extra suspense as they are stalked by allosaurs or
graze at the big, dangerous feet of a larger muttaburrasaurus.

The final episode, "Death of a Dynasty," has a fatalist tone
throughout, as the environment is portrayed as hazardous and increasingly
saturated with volcanic pollutants. The "king of the dinosaurs" has
trouble laying fertile eggs, and when she eventually does, only three chicks
emerge -and that number is soon cut down to two. "Death of a Dynasty"
makes for a good finale, but its presentation of Tyrannosaurus rex is
curiously dull.

Walking with Dinosaurs features a "Picture in Picture"
feature, where series produce Tim Haines provides commentary on certain scenes
while alternate views or additional videos are displayed. It's interesting and
informative, but the video portion often tends to obscure much of the action
onscreen. It's worth a viewing, but only after you've viewed the series on its
own.

Disc Three introduces a human element into all this prehysteria: Nigel
Marven. Known for his nature documentaries, Marven has a childlike enthuisiasm
and a permanent smile stuck on his face. If he frowned, I'm sure it would be a
sign of the apocalypse. Chased by Dinosaurs, which is really just a few
of Marven's post-Dinosaurs and Beasts specials lumped together,
essentially finds Marven traveling back to dinosaur times. Imagine a goofy,
giddy little man snorkeling with a giant killer liopleurodon, and you wouldn't
be too far off from what you actually get here. It's a silly idea, but the
creators know it, and comedic elements are introduced, such as a running joke
involving Marven's cameramen, who are clearly annoyed by his disregard for
caution in the face of danger. At one point in "The Giant Claw," a
cameraman fends off a protoceritops with a boom mike, and later, Marven scares
away a pack of velociraptor with a bike horn. It's cute stuff, and the dinosaurs
are even more convincing than before, but it feels like fluff compared to
Walking with Dinosaurs. Sea Monsters gets off to a very good
start, with Marven visiting an ancient sea filled with giant scorpions and other
large, predatory invertebrates. There is a unique sense of realism in the
segment, as Marven has to breathe through an oxygen tank due to low levels of
the gas in the early Earth atmosphere, and when he first pulls a sea scorpion
out of the sea, the creature is completely convincing and rather creepy. Much
like Walking with Monsters, however, the series starts to decline to
over-familiar elements and a heavier reliance on "impressive" giant
CGI fish.

Finally, tacked onto the end of Disc Three is Allosaurus: A Walking with
Dinosaurs Special. Essentially an extra episode of Dinosaurs, it
retains all the strengths of that series, and is a stellar episode in its own
right, providing a more fittingly engrossing conclusion to the series than
"Death of a Dynasty." The excitingly cinematic attack on a herd of
diplodocus by several allosaurs is certainly one of the highlights of the entire
series.

Monsters, Dinosaurs, Chased by Dinosaurs, and
Allosaurus are all anamorphically enhanced in their original 1.78:1
aspect ratios. The Monsters and Dinosaurs discs are dupes of the
original DVD releases, although Dinosaurs does not feature the additional
making-of feature that was included on a bonus disc in its original DVD release.
Having the oldest transfer, Dinosaurs also has the weakest picture, as
there is quite a bit of noticeable artifacing in many scenes. Picture detail is
sharp throughout, though, and is certainly very watchable. Monsters,
being newer, fares better. There is still some slight artifacing in some scenes,
but it's not distracting, and Chased by Dinosaurs and Allosaurus
follow this same format. Audio is Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo on all episodes, and
is serviceable, but given the nature of the programs, a 5.1 mix would have
greatly improved the viewing experience. Chased by Dinosaurs and
Allosaurus have no accompanying extras.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

There is simply no getting around it: nearly every detail of extinct animal
behavior presented in all the programs is completely speculatory. This is
forgivable, considering a program focusing on dinosaurs, only to have them lay
there with the narration informing us, "We don't really know what the
dinosaurs did. So we won't show them doing anything. But don't they look
cool?" would be a complete failure. However, there are countless scientific
inaccuracies presented in the series as fact: utahraptor, so named for its
location…in Europe? The dinosaurs are wiped out by…a
comet? Not to mention the wildly inaccurate evolutionary connections
portrayed in Monsters, and those are just the tip of the iceberg of the
erroneous details that plague all the series and specials found here. The
fallacies are forgivable in Dinosaurs and Allosaurus, which
compensate with sheer filmmaking skill and stunning imagery, but no such excuses
can be made for Monsters and Chased by Dinosaurs, both of which
pale greatly in comparison. Chased by Dinosaurs in particular is the
weakest link of this set. What made Dinosaurs (and, to a lesser extent,
Monsters) so interesting was the complete lack of humans onscreen, as it
presented dinosaurs with straight-faced conviction. Chased introduces a
human element, which immediately robs the proceedings of most of their potential
seriousness, as well as highlighting the fact that the dinosaurs are just
computer animated constructs. In both Monsters and Chased by
Dinosaurs, there is also far too much interaction with the camera by the
animals. This approaches levels of self-parody in Monsters, where at one
point, a dimetrodon digs into a carcass, pulls out some intestines, shakes them
around, and the camera lens becomes covered in feces.

Another example of the declining quality of subsequent Walking
with… programs is Ben Bartlett's scores: In Dinosaurs,
Allosaurus, and Beasts, his musical scores were performed by the
BBC Concert Orchestra, adding considerable dramatic heft to the events onscreen.
In Monsters and Chased by Dinosaurs, he no longer has an orchestra
to use, and the scores are based around synthesizers. It sounds cheap, and does
the programs no favors when compared to the classier productions of the
Walking with… programs before them. One last complaint:
Walking with Beasts, the proper companion to Dinosaurs,
Allosaurus and Monsters, is made reference to in the "Trilogy
of Life" documentary, but not found here, which means it must be tracked
down separately. Considering it was, to my memory, almost as impressive as
Dinosaurs, it is rather annoying that it wasn't included in this set. Of
course, it features no dinosaurs, but then again, neither does Walking with
Monsters.

Closing Statement

If you already own Walking with Beasts, but none of the other
installments in the Walking with… series, this set provides a good
buy for completists. Otherwise, Walking with Dinosaurs and
Allosaurus are both well worth owning, but are available seperately, with
bonus "making of" specials not found in this set. Still, the
Ultimate Dinosaur Collection is well-priced, and kids will go likely
crazy over the set at any rate—that is, if they aren't traumatized by the
frank depictions of bloody carnage and frequent dinosaur sex.

The Verdict

Walking with Dinosaurs and Allosaurus are found not guilty.
Walking with Monsters and Chased by Dinosaurs, however, are found
guilty of being too much of a good thing.